A great variety of drills with replaceable cutting tips (or cutting inserts) are known in the art. Such drills involve replaceable cutting inserts that are mounted on shanks. Typically, though by no means exclusively, the cutting inserts and shanks can display continuous and complementing configuration as fluted drills. Each shank will normally include a structure for retaining and rotating an associated cutting insert, while the associated cutting insert will have a complementing structure for being retained and rotated by the shank.
Often, challenges are encountered with respect to deformation and failure during the service life of a drill, due (at least in part) to a concentration of stresses imposed on the retaining and drive structure of the shank during ordinary service. Sometimes, permanent deformation may occur under high torque and the pocket loses the ability to center or hold the cutting insert mounted therein. This may unduly limit the useful service life of the drill, thus relevant improvements and modifications continue to be sought that might help mitigate the effect of known problems and constraints.